Hugh2
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Everything posted by Hugh2
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Of course, they could have, and I'd suspect they would have. I think any team who loses a guy to rule 5 planned on starting them in the minors otherwise they most likely would be presumably making the big league club. I also think a very strong argument can already be made that the Sox made a mistake not protecting Ward, even if everyone on that list you mentioned pitches well. There were other guys who could have been left unprotected at that time. I'm not feeling ambitious enough to look up names but there were a few guys who they protected over Ward who they just ended up DFA'ing a few weeks later.
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It's not uncommon, but most mlb players don't reach the majors by age 20. Holding a guy to that standard actually probably makes the opposite point that people think they're trying to make. When something is uncommon enough to where you can just start naming names. There's always an anecdotal case out there. Yorke could easily rebound this year and be knocking on the door by season's end, or early next year and that's ok. That would still be a fast track to the majors.
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Let's keep in mind that still to this point Ward has yet to pitch an MLB inning. He's also going to be stashed in the back of the Nationals roster where a lot of other teams could not do that. Even if Ward isn't ready but close to it they can manage the situation, give him easy innings and mop up innings and still work on his development. You expect the Red Sox to compete, or at least try to. If you think someone like Walter could use a little bit more time in the minors you keep him there. Especially if you still believe he's a starter, in which case perhaps you make the argument he's the first one up if needed. Depending on how he starts the season, that may be the case.
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This is entirely possible and I'm guessing at this point likley. I still don't think letting go of Ort now justifies the Ward decision, I would think it would make the decision to not protect Ward look even worse.
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Ort, maybe Brasier?
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Ward should have been on the 40 man but I don’t think he would have been competing for a spot on the 26 man. Or at the very least I think you don’t see as much of him because the Sox likely viewed him ready by 2024, maybe late this year. He’s barely pitched above AA
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I think they send Dalbec to the minors. At least ti start the season, there’s really no space for him on this roster. Despite his starts at SS he really doesn’t offer much positional flexibility, aside from poor defense at 3Rd. He has options and it allows them to retain one of the bubble guys who maybe provide better positional versatility in a back up role. That’s not Dalbec and he has options. I really really really wish there was a way they could keep Alfaro as a third catcher. But that might mean him not getting another offer or really really wanting to be here. Perhaps they can work out an opt out in may and June and role with Wong as the back up. I like Alfaro, but can’t afford to have bad defense at another position.
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You are right on Alfaro, but Tapia depends on him. He has an upward mobility clause, so he has to come with them with another MLB offer for them to be forced to make a decision.
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And how often do prospects pan out? and I'm the biggest prospect homer in here and even I can see that. Also, you need 3-4 of them not just one so you need multiple prospects to pan out. Rafaela can field, but there are serious questions about his bat. Is Abreu a serious prospect at this point? he has sub-defense and platoon splits at 2nd. MAYBE he pans out as a left fielder? but that seems to be the only outfield position we have locked down (assuming Yoshida pans out) Anthony and Bleis are promising, but how far away are they? The point I'm making is we are thin in the outfield from an organizational point of view. EDIT: I'm confusing Abreu with Valdez here but....I wouldn't bet the farm on Abreu rounding out the outfield in a few years from now either.
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The thing is you're thin in the outfield, and looking to be that way for years to come. Kike is gone after this year, and Verdugo the year after is gone too unless resigned. That leaves us with one outfielder who has yet to take an MLB at bat. I still think Duran has a path to being an everyday MLB player. He has supposedly made some adjustments and looked better in spring training. I think you hold onto him and let him have some sustained success in AAA with the changes he made. It's worth seeing if he can pan out than the return I think you get back from him.
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I mean, in the absence of any other significant injury, he's pretty much being asked to do just what he is projected to be. hopefully he's only make 2 starts to start the season.
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Which is fine, be we have plenty of those guys on the roster already, if all you have are 4 and 5's then eventually your #2 and #3 starting pitcher is a back-of-the-rotation/swingman. I think if they both have a future in Boston at least one of them is going to have to move to the pen fulltime. Otherwise maybe one needs to be traded. Not now, we need all the pitching depth we can get, but neither of those guys will strike fear into the hearts of our opponents, and both haven't looked great at the MLB level yet.
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Crawford, or Winc? I don't think either of these guys is a starting 5 pitcher in a playoff-caliber rotation.
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This is also the same Winc who struck out 44 guys in 70.1 innings and put up a 5.89 ERA last year. I mean, you could argue Crawford wasn't much better, but did show the ability to miss bats more than Winc. I also think Josh can be good in the bullpen, when he dials it back he actually misses a few bats. He will never do that as a starter.
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somewhere between 10-15 after being dead last just a few years ago is not only an amazing improvement, it's probably a level of organizational growth our rivals aren't seeing. Things can always go one way or another, but if this trajectory continues the Sox should have a top 10 system by consensus by years end. Law might have them 15th. haha
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Which is fine, who are any of us to critique? how many people REALLY know the strength of all the minor league systems? What doesn't make sense is the Sox system seemingly got better, and even according to LAWS rankings they had more guys in the top 100 and move further up the 100.....but even in his own rankings they slipped from last year. Law always seems to be an outlier in some way.
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If by some Miracle a guy like Mondosei stayed healthy and Story came back, you could have a plus infield defense and Kike might tip the defense in the outfield to plus. Thats a LOT of things that have to go and stay right for that to happen. Rafaella may play into the mix by August too.
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Let's not leave out Baseball America at #10. that might be too high because they count Yoshida, 24 is just absurd Law is on some crack. Realistically they're probably in the middle. 14 feels about right.
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You also can't just go by stats alone. Lets say player A hits a home run in a game. Who did he hit it against? An Ace? or a Low A nobody? And even if it was another team's ace, was that guy throwing the same he would be in a regular season game with the same kind of pitch he would pitch in that count or was he just trying to spin a breaking ball over the plate regardless of the outcome? Because he wants to ramp his arm up. It's not that the stats are meaningless, it's just that its really hard to assign any meaning to them because the game is played differently in spring training. The point ISN'T to win, the point is to get ready to play.
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In the spirit of brevity, I figured saying not retaining Bogaerts captured that. Bogaerts was a shortstop. So, they didn't sign a shortstop.
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Here's some food for thought though, where would the Sox be ranked if Bello (a pitcher) was still eligible? If he pitched 10 fewer innings last year he'd probably be bumping them up in the 10-13 range like BA has them.
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Spring training results are a conundrum to digest. They are said to be meaningless, yet players are evaluated to make a team. They're also all we have to go on at this point. Pitchers aren't used the same as they would be in a regular season. you LHRP might get lit up against right-handed hitters but you don't care because he got his inning in. Fringe guys are playing their butts off, and regulars who don't need to earn a job are just going through the motions and ramping their bodies up. It's not that they're completely meaningless, but they have to be taken with an enormous grain of salt, a whole boulder of salt. They mean something, we say spring training results don't mean anything when they do mean something, and I fall into this hypocrisy as well. They're certainly nothing to get worked up over.
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I'm not saying he's a lock to be good, but I'm unconcerned.
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Yes, I feel “Bogaerts leaving” captures that.
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I think he thought Verdugo could bounce back defensively and Kike in the OF would tip it plus. Story getting injured and Bogaerts leaving forced Kike to SS.